Trend Alert: Pantone Releases 2016 Color of the Year
Surfing the net this morning with a cup of tea in my hand, I quickly saw that the internet was a buzz with Pantone's Color of the Year for 2016 was officially released. Excited by the prospect, I wondered to myself what it would be.
Pantone color always seems to apply to interior design and clothing, never really to graphic or web design so I thought back to all the colors I've seen this year. There seems to be a huge increase of darker blues and indigos... oh and dark purples and greens, maybe it's one of those?
I excitedly open up Pantone's website to see this image.
Needless to say, this wasn't what I was expecting
So, I was a little dumbfounded. Not only was the Pantone Color of the Year actually TWO colors, but they looked like they belonged in the baby aisle of a Potterybarn Kids store.
I'm not a huge fan of these two colors together. Pantone's website waxes philosophical about how 2016 will be a year of relaxation and mediation. This sounds great to me but I think that they missed that there will be a nasty American presidential election and I don't see any signs of serenity in 2016 any time soon.
I think that this might be wishful thinking
As much as I love a calming color scheme, I just don't see nursery room blues and pinks really hitting it big this year. Most websites and interior decor seem to be swinging in the opposite direction with bold and bright colors. I don't foresee a web trend of calming websites, if anything I see that websites will be even brighter this year. Lots of white with pops of bright color.
Conclusion: Move on
If you are into web design, I would just completely ignore this supposed 'trend.' If you are thinking in terms of graphic design, I guess you could take a pause and consider if your designs are too cluttered to fit into this shift to serenity... but I wouldn't pause too long because calmness and marketing rarely go together.
But if you want to start making your site look like a nursery, here are the hex colors from the Pantone website:
Rose Quartz: #F7CAC9 or #F2DDDE
Serenity: #92A8D1 or #89ABE3
What do you think?
Like the colors? Think they are awful? Leave your comments below!
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